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Mac & Bone Show - Jones Angell Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Sports Radio 92.7 WFNZ. This music was playing loud and
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: proud on Saturday as the Heels got it done. Got
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a little scary there. Got a little dicey for the
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: heels after they blow the 17-point lead. But they rally
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: with a great clutch late drive. And they get the dub.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: They get the victory bell. And little Billy has beaten Duke.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And Bone is very happy for Bill Belichick.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: I'm having a signal problem over here on the other
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: side of the room.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Bone's been dreading this conversation all week.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: How about you talk to Jones and I talk to
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: the guy that called me a baked potato on Twitter?
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you deal with that guy. It seems like you're
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: into a nasty feud there on social media.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Like that's like not a compliment. Who doesn't love baked potatoes?
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Let's bring in Jones Angel, who I think has probably
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: been looking forward more to this conversation than you, Bone,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: as we talk about the Heels beating Duke and now
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: trying to go to 5-2 with a game against the
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Cuse at home. Jones Angel, voice of the Tar Heels. Jones,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: I'm guessing that was a fun one to call on Saturday.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: It was a fun one for sure. I've had this
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: circled all week, Bone. I'm ready for this conversation. I'm
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: excited for it. No, it was a great win for Carolina.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: You know, the game itself, I think, it shows both
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: the good for Carolina and kind of where The Tar
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: Heels still need to go. Had such a great start
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: to the contest, led 17-0, as you referenced, 17-7 at halftime.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: But then, to Duke's credit, Blue Devils played a lot
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: better in the second half, took advantage of a handful
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: of Tar Heel mistakes, and then all of a sudden
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: it was 20-17 with four and a half minutes to go.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: And so for Carolina to answer again like the Heels
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: have done a couple of times now, with some key
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: plays down the stretch to get the win, I think
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: was impressive. Now, it also shows you that this team
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: has still struggled a little bit to find that consistency.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I think you can go through almost every game outside
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: of the East Tennessee State game And you can go, man,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: there were some great stretches of play, and then there
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: were some stretches of play that the Heels would like
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: to have back. And so you hadn't really seen 60
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: full minutes yet, even in a win, again, outside of
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: an FCS opponent. And so the Tar Heels would like
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: to continue on that path to gain that consistency, but
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: absolutely nothing bad about the Heels getting that big win
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: and being 4-2 and feel really good about what they've
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: done through the first half of the season. Wow.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Jones, first of all, good morning, Jones. I asked you
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: about Jordan Shipp last week and his leadership, what he means.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: What about Jelani Thurman and his role and what he's
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: done for this year's offense this year?
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Well, let me say one thing about Jordan. I thought
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: you saw some of the leadership aspect of him because
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: he had a mistake in this game. He had that
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: fumble that dude picked up and ran in for a
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: touchdown yesterday. that really got Duke kind of back in
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: the neighborhood of the game when it looked like the
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Tar Heels might run away with this thing. And you
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: saw Shipp immediately, you know, take accountability for it. And
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: sometimes leaders, that's leadership. When you say, look, hey, I
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: did something. I know that was a screw-up on my part.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I own it. Now I'm going to fix it. Let's
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: all move forward, and I'm going to help us get
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: it back. And I think that's part of leadership, too.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: But to better answer your question about Thurman, he's just
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: such a– He's just such a mismatch at that position.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: He is one of those tight ends that has good size.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: His improvement in the blocking side of things has been
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: pretty dramatic. But he is just such a physical, difficult
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: matchup for the other team. He's too fast for a
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: lot of linebackers. He's too physical for a lot of safeties.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: And we know that Bill Belichick, number one, has had
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: some great tight ends through his career in football. So
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: he has a pretty good idea how to use guys
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: like that. And Bobby Petrino has done a really good
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: job in finding ways to get Thurman open and finding
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: ways to get him mismatches within the game. Now, he
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: didn't have his biggest game of the season. against Duke,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: but he did have that huge fourth down catch on
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: the final drive that allowed that drive to continue and
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: Carolina to eventually score a touchdown. So Thurman's been a
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: huge part of what Carolina's doing and I would assume
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: would continue to be a huge part of what they
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: do the back half of the year.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: We're talking to Jones Angel, voice of the Tar Heels
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: on the Tar Heel Radio Network. They play 7.30 on
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Saturday night, so 6.30 they'll be on the air on
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: the Heels Radio Network, which are one of their affiliates
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: here in Charlotte down the hall, our sister station, WBT,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: if you want to tune in. What do you think
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: about this team moving forward, Jones? Like, kind of as
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: you were saying, there does feel like– you know, this
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: team does have its limitations, right? I guess is the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: way I would put it, but you know, they found
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a way to win, you know, two games in a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: row that were there in the balance and you can
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: see the culture and the vibes are improving. Like, what
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: do you think this team is, is capable of moving forward?
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I think if you look at, and
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: you know, dangerous to do when there's still such a
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: long way to go, but if you look at these
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: six games in total, uh, And certainly Miami next weekend
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: is going to be a heavy favorite against Carolina. They're
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: the number one team in the country. They've had a
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: terrific year. I think every other game is going to
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: be almost a toss-up, including this week against Syracuse, where
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: the Tar Heels might be a little better in some areas,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: the opposition might be a little better in some areas,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: but there's not this dramatic difference between the Tar Heels
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and any team that they play, again, outside of Miami,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: who I do think has proven to be one of
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: the best teams in the country. So it comes down
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: to the same stuff that Carolina's been talking about all year,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: and that's continuing to try to gain that consistency, continuing
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: to play good, solid defense, try not to hurt yourself.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: I think Carolina has done that pretty well this past
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: game against Duke. I thought it was one of the games, honestly,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: that the Tar Heels made the most mistakes with a
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: couple of turnovers. They had that really strange play where
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: they had the backup punter just straight up drop a
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: snap in the fourth quarter. But they were able to
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: overcome all that. And I think, guys, that's one of
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: maybe the best qualities of this team. And you talked
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: about the culture, the vibe. is that the Tar Heels
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: just keep playing, whether it's good, whether it's bad, whatever's happened,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: they just keep playing. And I think that's been one
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: of the real almost endearing parts about this team is
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: that you can tell that they just keep going. And
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: it's not always perfect, and they don't do everything right.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: but that doesn't automatically eliminate them from the game. And
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: so I think that's been fun to watch is just
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: their kind of dogged determination within the game to keep
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: playing and try to keep advancing. And so I think
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: that's been fun, and hopefully you continue to see that
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: through the back half of the season.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: Jones, what do you think of the 2014 playoffs starting
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: in 2027 as it pertains to the Heels' future?
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's such a complicated topic, right? I'm sure you
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: guys have talked about it a bunch here over the
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: last two weeks or so. I will say this, for
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: a team like North Carolina, which has knocked on the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: door of the playoff a few times, that has knocked
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: on the door of being in that conversation, expanding it
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: certainly gives them a larger opportunity to be into that event.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: So I think from that angle, there is some excitement there,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: but I do think there's just so much more about this.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: There's the, yeah. How do you manage the regular season? Yeah.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Do you really want teams that maybe have, you know,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: go eight and four, you know, do they deserve to
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: be in a playoff to, to win a national championship? It's,
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: I know everybody uses the basketball tournament as an example,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: but guys, you know, this is, If number one plays number,
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: let's say, 25 in basketball, number one's going to win
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: more often. But it's going to be 80% of the time, 75%
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: of the time, whatever. In football, if number one plays
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: number 25, number one's going to win over 90% of
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: the time. It's just the nature of the game. There
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: are fewer upsets in football, I think, than any other
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: sport because of the physicality. And so there's just a
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: lot of questions about adding this many teams. Are you
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: actually adding teams that can win the tournament, that can
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: win the title? Or are you just adding teams so
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: they can say they made it, so that they can
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: say that their investment has been worth it because they
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: were the 22 seed in the tournament? So I think
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: on one hand, it works. And when you're in it,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: maybe you feel differently where it's like, man, all right,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: you're playing. If you win this game, you get a
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: playoff spot. And I'm sure that would be exciting when
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: you're in that moment. But I do think there's some
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: kind of global overarching questions to think about as you
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: look at this and see where everything goes moving forward.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: Jones, that was a good, honest answer from Jones. Jones,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you could have easily just said, hey, it would help
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: the heels. Let's do it. You know, let's do it.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: I mean, I do think it would help the heels.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think... Like Carolina has plenty of times
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: lived in that 15 to 25 kind of ranking. Right.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: And where you've had a good year, but but you
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: hadn't quite been good enough. And so there've been plenty
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: of times, I mean, even back in 2023, certainly 2015,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: you know, some years here in the last 10 years
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: or so where Carolina would have definitely been a playoff
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: team and, in this particular format. And so, I don't know,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: it's just a complicated issue, guys. A lot of different
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: aspects to it.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: I think you nailed it, though. It's like you have
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: these boosters being asked for more and more money for players,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and I think they want to be able to tell him,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: like at schools across the country more often, hey, boosters,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: look where your money went. We're in the playoff. you know?
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: But I, but I do wonder at some point, does
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: it wear off bone where boosters are like, yeah, you
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: made the playoff two times in the last four years,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: but you lost by 25 and you were like the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: 22 seed, like Jones said, you know what I mean?
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: So anyway, it's going to be fascinating watching moving forward. Jones,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: thanks for coming on, man.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Everybody.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: If you're a heels fan, you know, the routine, turn
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: the sound down on your TV, turn it up for Jones.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: and the crew Saturday night, 7.30 game against the Cuse.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Jones. We'll talk to you next week.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: Thanks, guys. Always enjoy the time.